F1 2017 Review – An amazingly action-packed ride

Codemasters, the developers of F1 2017, have cracked the code to delivering an amazing driving simulation experience that provides options for both casual or fully fledged racing fans. Most of the expected game modes are available from the main menu which include the Career Mode for those who seek to build their reputation and become the all time greatest F1 racer.  Or you have your arcade mode options such as Grand Prix and Time Trial races for those quick hits of adrenaline. And then there’s the always much loved Multiplayer, which connects you to other racers online for high intensity racing against friends or rivals!

I predominantly spent my time in Career Mode, given my aspirations as a child was to become a race car driver. And to the surprise of many of my friends and family members, I’m personally crazy about driving simulation games, so I was very glad to get an early look at F1 2017. It absolutely did not disappoint!  F1 2017 leaves no uncertainty in my mind that it is one of the best and most refined racing simulators of all time.

After taking in the amazing game visuals and adjusting my game and controller settings to my feel, I fired up Career Mode to see if any improvements were made to the lacklustre F1 2016 Career Mode. This year F1 2017’s Career Mode has way more content and features with additions to storylines, and even a social media aspect where your fans pin you against rival drivers adding a bit of spice to the racing flavour.  I picked the RedBull race team at random and found that I could customise my driver to look like me and even add specific details about myself such as my home country and full name. This all improved the feel and immersion of the Career Mode.

There is a lot of detail and planning that has clearly gone into F1 2017 down to selecting the button layout for your controller to meet the needs of your hands or how you are use to racing. You can save control mapping and switch and change between your favourite control schemes very easily in the settings too! I felt like there were a few settings that were missing, however, which really needed to be there – the most important being the analogue stick sensitivity. It’s off the scale and over responsive sometimes leaving you tireless as you try and figure out how a gentle flick of the stick sent you straight into the track barrier on a long straight.

Something I really enjoyed was the detail added into the car customisation feature. This year, alongside the ability to save car profiles and mess with car settings (as usual) you’re also provided a research tree to unlock upgrades which allow your car to run more efficiently, quickly, and with less impact on the tires and fuel consumption when hitting peak g-force.  I found the best place to test these settings was during practice races when trying to complete my track familiarisation goals or fuel efficiency goals.

I really enjoyed the fact that at the click of a button I could also change between preferred profiles during race day events without having to worry about shifting through slider bars which was a massive bonus for someone who likes to research and test out efficient car settings for specific race conditions. This feature can leave many causal players or players new to the F1 IP feeling very overwhelmed. This is because the screens are not completely visually friendly and there is very little by way of introduction/description when it comes to what the feature is and what a lot of the changes mean from a racing/F1 car perspective.

The only major complaint I have about F1 2017 (and this could potentially be just some added salt from a bad crash) but the racing AI in F1 2017 absolutely hates you. On many occasions I found myself throwing my hands up in the air when reading a warning or time penalty notification for being hit by another driver. At one point I was penalised for being run off the road by an AI driver on a straight where I was leading the race! This can be frustrating if the warnings impact your overall race time, and thus your poll position – so I’m not at all a fan of the aggressive human hating AI!

Another minor disappointment I have with F1 2017 is that the F1 cars can feel very flimsy at times. I had a moment where a rock, or potentially a rouge polygon of some sort, found its way in the path of my F1 as I was flying down a back straight. I spotted the rouge object and expected the F1 car to sail over it with a little niggle, but I ended up loosing my front right tire and wing to it! The crash that followed looked fabulous on replay but restarting a 15 lap race when you’re on the 13th lap and in top 8 isn’t fabulous at all!